


A World of Heat

by Mossy_Moondark



Category: Original Work
Genre: AU, Ageism, F/M, Rape, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-30 17:25:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19407925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mossy_Moondark/pseuds/Mossy_Moondark
Summary: Oh Wind, rend open the heat -~ Hilda Doolittle





	A World of Heat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lucymonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/gifts).



Out in the open, the air was still hot, but not stifling. They waited in a pen under a few flimsy sheets of thin wood, or maybe it was fabric, there was no way to tell without touching it and it was too high above for that. The pen was made of forearm thick wooden sticks, woven into walls with fresh vines that tightened as they dried, making the pen virtually impenetrable. At least the pen didn't touch the roof, allowing a breeze to sweep in every now and again.

In the middle of the pack, Thais lifted her braid off the back of her neck in an attempt to cool off just that little bit more. She was tired, as were they all, and she longed for the next part to be over. Judging by the noise beyond the pen, outside was heaving with people. Potential buyers. Potential owners. The very thought made her shiver. Every time she thought she was resigned to her fate, a new frisson of terror would leap into her belly, leaving her clammy and shaking. She took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Survival, that was what she was to do, now. Survive until she was free, one way or another.

Voices were raised outside, and the pack silently shuffled from foot to foot anxiously. There were loud calls from women, and even louder laughter after. A man shouted something, and there was another roar of laughter. The front of the pen suddenly moved, and the pack surged away from it. Thais was forced back, too, stumbling against someone behind her and stepping on their feet. 

"Sorry," she muttered out of habit, paying more attention to what was happening at the front. 

"Come on, you bastards," someone shouted. "One at a time, twenty of you across the square to the building opposite."

There was a hesitation, the snap of a long whip. Someone squealed. The pack slowly began to move forward.

By the time it was Thais's turn, she was practically panting with fear. She wished she had a scarf to wrap around her shoulders, or at least her neck. It would be a little protection against the sun, and her shoulders wouldn't be bare. 

There were guards on either side of the door, and an overseer with a whip in his hand only a few steps away. Her eyes watering, Thais raised a hand to shield them from the light. Too many days spent in near darkness and now the brightness was going to give her a headache, if not worse. Looking around, it appeared she - they - were in a small market square. The buildings were white, and even though the sun was low in the sky, painting the ground and the buildings and the bald hills behind them orange and coral and pink, Thais still had to squint. 

A shuttle rose from behind the building, headed north beyond the city. A travesty, for the starmen to use the plainsfolk so. But then, their goal was to defeat the Teulen, and if they made pacts with the plainsfolk or any other barbarian, well. The Teulen would not be the only ones to suffer. A few plainsfolk, radiant in their yellow trousers and shirts, lingered by the fencing that ran between the pen and the tall building in front of her. They stared at her, talking softly, grinning, occasionally making catcalls. Thais didn't have to understand the language to know what they were saying, because she was a prisoner, a woman, a Teulen. 

"Hey Anso, pull that one out."

Thais almost looked at the speaker, because he had spoken in Common, but chose not to at the last moment. She stared at the sandy soil underfoot, determined not to show any fear or longing, determined not to cry. If she ignored him, maybe he would call for someone else.

"You! Woman with the long hair, you!"

On the verge of passing out, Thais took another slow step, only to be halted in her tracks when another pair of feet and knees and legs blocked her own.

"I know you understand me," The guard said, leaning forward and whispering. "You're a Teulen, you understand everything spoken anywhere in the world. Now move the fuck over there and if you're lucky, I might buy you afterward."

He put a heavy hand on her shoulder and pushed her towards the square.

"Overseer, shall we get her clean?"

"Oh gods, yes. I can smell her from here," said the man who had originally spoken about her. He put the butt of his whip under her jaw, forcing her head up. She looked away. "Anso, hose her down."

Hose? 

The sudden spray of cold water was shocking, making her gasp and twist away. Something rapped her chin hard - the butt -so she stopped trying to get away, hunching her shoulders against the icy blast. Eventually the ordeal ended, leaving her soaking wet and cold for the first time since she had been taken from home. Whistles rent the air, and giggling, and Thais realized her shirt had turned transparent from the water. She flushed, not that anyone would care about her shameful lack of modesty.

"Much better," said the man holding the whip. "Look at me."

At first she refused, but then curiosity got the better of her. He was taller than she was, with white blonde hair and grey eyes that pierced her to the quick. He smiled, showing even white teeth.

The Overseer looked her over from head to feet and back again, before turning to face the people watching beyond the makeshift fence. "Men and women of Digidikk, here is the Teulen we have finally defeated!"

The crowd roared its approval. Looking at them from beneath her eyelashes, Thais saw no children, but plenty of women who were grinning and laughing in delight. Three of them were being clasped tightly by their partners in a disgusting display of affection in public. Teulen were taught that every culture was equal, yet having now been out amongst the Emeel and the Sylont and the Nullotti, Thais was thoroughly sick of that lie. She understood why; the Teulen had to protect themselves somehow, and appearing non-judgmental was part of being treated with respect in turn. However, she was sickened by what she had seen since being taken from home. To be so public - to do such things, and more, in front of everyone - she shuddered.

"We have here a woman before us, and Anso has brought us a man! Shall we show them what they've been missing?"

"Stick it to 'em!" shouted one of the women, shaking her fist in the air.

"If you don't, I will!" someone else called, to scattered laughter.

The Overseer grinned, and pointed over Thais's shoulder. "Bring him here!"

A shirtless and well muscled young cannibal was brought to the Overseer, hands behind his back, sharpened teeth bared, spitting and silently struggling with the two guards holding him by his arms. Thais didn't recognize him from the pack she had been traveling with. He looked at her with contempt, spitting in her direction, though it fell short.

"Our boy doesn't care for our Teulen!" cried the Overseer, spinning slowly in a circle. "Shall we reward him?"

A host of boos answered his question. 

"You want to _punish_ him? So be it! Who amongst you wants to be first?" The Overseer tucked his whip under his arm, spread his arms wide.

There was jostling at the fence, two sandy-haired men, twins, each trying to outdo the other with raised hands.

"Why have one when you can have two?" cried the Overseer, motioning them both forward. They came eagerly, joshing one another with elbows and giggles.

"And what shall we call you?"

"Eben and Bene," One said breathlessly, glancing between the Overseer and the man who had now been forced to his knees.

"Are you ready to show this barbarian the ways of civilized society?"

"Yes, sir!" 

The Overseer stepped back, gesturing towards the kneeling man. "Then have him."

The twins lunged at the man, knocking him flat before falling upon him like the savages they were.

Thais watched in horrified fascination. The barbarian had the kind of body she gazed at from afar, when the summer market was on and travelers and tribes from all over came to sell their goods. He was lean and corded with muscle, his skin a deep, golden brown, his hair sable. Though she would never admit it, when Hismat was sawing away on top of her, she imagined he was a barbarian, come to ravish her, take her away from the mountains. She would have an adventure and live a life of simplicity and happiness and plenty of sex.

Besides, her imaginings had never included seeing Hismat lying against the wall, bleeding to death while she was pulled from the room, screaming.

What was more, she was Teulen, and The Work of the Teulen was paramount above all.

The twins had wrestled the barbarian flat. One of them, Eben, maybe, had managed to pull the barbarian's arms above his head and was kneeling on them, keeping him down no matter how hard he struggled to free himself. Bene sat on the barbarian's thighs and was busy cutting off his leather loincloth. Within moments the barbarian was exposed and when Bene held up the loincloth and waved it like a flag, the crowd went wild.

Thais's stomach roiled, but she couldn't look away. Bene began to pull at the barbarian's flaccid cock, and much to Thais's surprise, the barbarian began to plump up. 

"Nai!" he yelled, trying to get away by twisting his torso this way and that.

Eben casually hit his face hard, once, twice, and again. The barbarian quieted, in fact he stopped moving altogether, leading Thais to think he had blacked out. 

"Roll him over," said Bene, shuffling down to the barbarian's ankles. Even the he barbarian's ass was shapely, high and round, proven when Bene kneaded it with both hands. Then Bene loosed the drawstrings of his yellow trousers and shoved them halfway down his thighs. He pulled out a long, slim cock and gave it a couple of strokes.

Thais looked away. She had heard of such things, of course, all Teulen had. It wasn't right, to watch such defilement. Unfortunately there was nothing else for her to view that didn't involve people. The Overseer was looking in her direction, and the crowd, well, the crowd. Now the full import of where she was finally hit, for even though everything she had witnessed thus far; death, mayhem, the destruction of all she had known, the daily terror of an unknown future, never had she thought to find herself amongst a people so debased as to have relations in public. 

Nonetheless, seeing people openly touching one another was repulsive. One of the women at the fence was hanging on to it with both hands, her mouth open in a rictus of pleasure, the man behind her with his hand under the waistband of her skirt. Not far away, another man crouched on the ground, his back to the fence, using his mouth on the man in front of him. Wherever Thais looked, she saw people being groped and fondled, breasts bared to the morning sun, naked flesh wobbling and jiggling. A loud groan turned her attention back to the barbarian and the boys.

Bene was doing something between the barbarian's legs with his fingers. He looked up at Eben. "Got any?"

Eben nodded, took a little pot from his trouser pocket, gave it to Bene, who in turn opened it up and gathered a glob of something pale on his fingers. He looked around and grinned. "Too tight, don't wanna come too soon."

Thais immediately glanced at the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, however, she could still see what was going on. Soon enough she was staring as Bene slowly inserted his cock into the barbarian's ass. Bene shook his head as he went, until he was finally seated.

"Well?" asked Eben, readjusting his position and rubbing his obvious erection.

"He's untouched," said Bene, eyes half closed. "So tight!"

Thais couldn't believe such depravity! Especially when the barbarian wasn't even aware of what was happening to him. Yet even as she watched, he began to stir. Awareness came swiftly, and he started to kick. 

Of course, he could do nothing. 

"You see, but do you like?"

The voice was close enough for Thais to startle to one side. The Overseer had crept up to her side without her even noticing. She didn't know whether or not to acknowledge his presence. Keeping her gaze down towards his belly, she was horrified to see he was tenting his trousers. 

He leaned closer. "I think you do like it. You can't stop staring at them. You Teulen types think you're so much better than everyone else, but that's not true, is it? You want to fuck and suck just like all these good people here, don't you?"

She couldn't help it; she stepped away. He followed; too close. She did it again, and so did he, until eventually she was standing right next to the twins and the barbarian.

"Look at them, don't you want to be fucked like that? You've got the body for it, high tits like ripe mangoes, wide hips just made to cradle a man. I said, _look_ at them!"

The Overseer took her by the upper arm and the back of her head and made her face them, forcing her head down so she couldn't miss the action. 

The barbarian was huffing with every thrust Bene made, his breath raising little clouds of dust with each exhale. Bene laid down on him fully, sliding his arms around the barbarian's neck and chest to hold him close. The barbarian had a full body twitch, and then his eyes went wide. 

"Aw yeah," crowed Eben. "He's feeling it!"

Bene was red faced and panting, his hips going faster and faster until he pushed in hard and froze. He jerked a couple of times and then got to his feet, not before pushing the barbarian's face into the dirt. 

"My turn," Eben said eagerly. He stood and switched places with Bene. The barbarian simply lay there. Maybe Eben was tired of waiting; he finished quick, a few strokes and he was done with a shudder.

Boos erupted from the crown, which was disgusting. Eben flipped them off. Thais hadn't travelled very far in her life, but apparently some things were universal.

"Who's next?" said one of the guards, slowly walking around the barbarian.

"You are," whispered the Overseer.

Thais closed her eyes, but she couldn't help the fear rippling from her feet to the top of her head.

"You're trembling with eagerness, I like that. I can't wait to have you, to stick my cock right here," said the Overseer, shoving his hand between her legs.

She froze. And then she was pushing at his arm before she could even decide whether or not she should.

"Oh no," he growled, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back. Pain lanced through her shoulder and forced her on to tip toe. Now she clutched at his arm around her waist in order to keep her balance.

"That's it, that's it," he murmured, barely audible above the sudden cheering around them. "Be nice to me and I'll be nice to you, right?"

She didn't know what to say. There wasn't anything _to_ say. He was going to what he did and she was going to suffer through it.

"Now see here this Teulen woman before you?" he shouted, turning in another small circle to show her off. "What shall we do with her?"

"Fuck her!" someone yelled, and people brayed with laughter.

The Overseer chuckled and brought her other arm behind her back too. He put her wrists together and pulled them up with one hand. He held the other out and away. "See? Digidikk men, do you not see how easy it is to overpower your enemy so you may do what you will!"

Despite the burning sun overhead, a bead of sweat rolled down the bridge of Thais's nose, right into the corner of her eye. Gods, she wanted water. She could bear the shame of being sprayed with water again if it meant she could open her mouth and drink some in. Teulen weren't meant for the desert, no, the cool green mountains were her home and she wished beyond anything that she was there, that this was all a terrible dream.

"Look here!" cried the Overseer. "My hand is free to do anything and all the enemy can do is stand and take it. Do you think she will? What say you she's dripping, ready and open for a man just like you, or you, or even you, Hals the baker! I see you there, and your missus! I hope you've already had her today, otherwise you'll come in this good woman before you actually touch her!"

Emphasizing his point, the Overseer ran his hand between Thais's legs again, and this time Thais made no complaint. The threat of her shoulders being dislocated was enough to keep her compliant. When he drew one side of her nearly dry shirt up on one side she squeaked a little before firmly pressing her lips shut. She wouldn't let them win by making another sound, she _wouldn't_.

Even so, she had to bite her lip when he exposed her breast to the air. He cupped it and circled the nipple with his thumb until it betrayed her by stiffening.

"See! My good people, do you see? They pretend their uninterested, but the truth is staring you in the face, indeed, it's under my very hands. Are you ready to witness how the mighty come down?"

On cue, the people in the square roared their approval.

The Overseer ground his hips against Thais's ass - he was very aroused."Who among you wants to taste this morsel before it gets bruised, eh?"

Although Thais didn't want to know, she couldn't help but look. Fewer hands were raised than she thought - she supposed she ought to be grateful.

"You! No, not you, him - the old man."

Oh gods - oh gods no! 

One of the guards was helping a man duck under the light fencing holding back the townsfolk. As they came closer, Thais wanted to vomit. The old man looked just like Hismat. The resemblance was uncanny, from the salt and pepper stubble on his chin to the long and narrow face, the blade of a nose. Hismat was dead, though, he had to be! As terrible as her ordeal was, at the very least there had been the unlikelihood of her ever seeing him again.

"Pretty," rasped the old man, staring at her hungrily. 

"Just look at these tits," said the Overseer, pulling her shirt all the way up to her neck. "Nice, eh? Bouncy."

"Never was one for tits," replied the man, slapping one lightly, making her nipple tingle. "A nice juicy cunt, now. That's something else."

Against her back, Thais felt the Overseer huff a laugh. "To each their own," he muttered.

The old man put his hands on her hips and then fell to the ground. No, he was using her for balance as he went down on his knees, taking her trousers down at the same time. Easily done, the drawstring she used for a belt was old and frayed. Her undergarment remained for only a moment longer; the old man pulled the side strings quick and they dropped down as well, leaving her bare from ankle to neck.

"Oh ho, easy access!" crowed the Overseer loudly. "Now this old peter's going to have his fun, then you and I shall have ours, eh?"

Thais turned her head away, but once again the Overseer took her jaw and forced her to look forward and then down. He licked the back of her neck, leaving a wet trail. At the same time there was a sudden intrusion against her cunt. Distracted by the Overseer, she'd momentarily completely forgotten about the old man. Habit had her shying away, yet how easily the Overseer kept control merely by raising her wrists higher behind her back.

"No don't stop. Make me hurt you more, make me punish you. You can't get away, no matter what you do, no matter what you try," He hissed into her ear. "I'm going to fuck you so hard you won't even remember this old peter tried to get it up again - "

What he said didn't even make sense, Thais couldn't make it make sense beyond the tone of his voice, the graveled lust in it, his clear enjoyment of her humiliation.

" - will be the softest thing you feel for the rest of the afternoon."

He was right, he was right, and it didn't make what was happening any easier. Hismat had always gone down on her first, always, and how she had hated it. After the first time, when she'd pushed him off and earned a split lip and a black eye for it, she had hidden her revulsion. He liked to kiss her after, his cheeks shining with spit and other fluid, his face smelling like her. All his efforts were to naught; in thirteen years of marriage she had never gotten pregnant.

At least she couldn't hear what was happening over the murmur of the crowd. She had to watch his head move, and when his hands went from her thighs to his crotch, she felt a wave of relief. This wouldn't last much longer, and a few minutes later she was right. The guard had to help the old man stand, his expression bland at the dark spots on the old man's trousers. 

The Overseer abruptly turned her head to the side. "Look, that's going to be you soon enough."

The barbarian was slowly getting to his feet. He grimaced as he took his first wobbly steps back towards the pen. Whistles and jeers rent the air as he sped up, trying to avoid the stones thrown at him by the crowd. The stones stopped as a couple of guards went into the pen, making the inhabitants inside move like a murmuration of birds in flight. The barbarian followed them in, but Thais lost sight of him as her fellow prisoners engulfed him in their efforts to evade the guards.

Screaming erupted in the pen and then a woman was dragged outside, not far from where Thais stood. 

Ah.

Tilani.

She was a frowsy blonde, still thick despite the march from the mountains to this shore side town. Her shirt was torn, showing the difference between the bright red sunburnt skin of her neck and her snow-white chest. Her large breasts swung to and fro as she struggled. One guard took a moment to fondle her and nearly got kicked in the balls for it. She doubled over when he punched her in the gut. 

"I need volunteers!" shouted the Overseer over Thais's head. "Anso, those three over there, they look strong."

Anso brought the three men, their sleeves rolled to show forearms as heavily muscled as those of a blacksmith, to the party. They tore Tilani's trousers and shirt off, ripping them to shreds and waving them like laundry airing in a breeze. One of them held a couple of scraps to his puffed out chest and did a little dance, making everyone laugh even more. Anso said something Thais couldn't hear above the noise, and then the five men, the three and the two guards, collectively picked up Tilani by the arms and legs. Anso patted the guard who had been kicked at on the shoulder, nodding at Tilani. The guard looked surprised, but immediately unbuckled his belt. Thais could hardly believe what she saw; he was erect. He moved between Tilani's spread legs, took his prick and entered her.

Tilani screamed again and Thais felt a rush of satisfaction, and then shock at herself a second later. What kind of monster felt happy at the sight of another woman being raped, a woman she knew, a woman _from her own village?_

The truth was that Tilani was everything Thais was not: plain, plump, happy. Her husband was the kind of man to surprise his wife at every opportunity, from flowers to kisses to pretty fabric for dresses. Their children were kind and adored by everyone. Tilani's face was lined from laughter, not pain, and no matter what people said to her, she always responded with gentle favor. 

So Thais, who had lost what little she had on the mountain, now found herself watching Tilani's world come apart all that much more, and felt it was only fair. Watching Tilani go limp, she was aware of the Overseer touching her cunt, yet it meant nothing to her.

"I knew it, I knew it," he mumbled. 

The grip on her wrists tightened. Trousers still around her ankles, Thais staggered as the Overseer suddenly stepped back. She couldn't turn to see where they were going until the last second. Unbeknownst to her, a structure had been put together near one end of the square. It didn't take much imagination to figure out what it was for. A low bench was attached to crossbars that made a standing X. Linked to this by thick ropes was a stock, but one where the narrow platform she was to stand upon was wheeled. 

Without saying a word more, the Overseer placed her head in the stock and closed the top over her neck. With her hands behind her back, her position was even more awkward because she couldn't take the weight of her torso off of her neck. In addition to this, the structure was very close to the fence. Not within touching distance - oh. Now the wheeled stock made sense. 

Thais couldn't really look up, which was just as well after she caught a glimpse of the leering faces beyond the fence. Worse still was how quiet it had gotten since their arrival. 

"Ooo - "

Her belly soured with apprehension at the crowd's breathless sound. Something was happening behind her - what was the Overseer doing? She tensed when his warm hands landed on her hips- alright, that was fine, she knew what was coming. The blunt touch of his cock on her inner thigh, and then the nudge of the head - gods, she wasn't ready! He pressed forward fast, leaving her no opportunity to adjust. He was thick and long and the burn was intense. Pain spiked through her pelvis and she bit her lip again, trying not to cry in front of the savages that called themselves 'people'. 

"Oh fuck, you beauty, _yeah,_ " he moaned. "I've had my eye on you since Coldwater, the way you walked, just begging for my cock. Do you like it? Yeah, do you?"

At first she refused to answer, but when he jerked her wrists not only high but _up_ she left all pretension of pride behind. " _Yes!_ Yes I love it," she babbled, tears rolling down her cheeks from the fire streaking in her left shoulder. 

Thais didn't have to see their faces to know the townsfolk were cheering at her expense. Their comments were enough.

_"If you sit like this you can see her tits shake every time he ploughs into her -"_

_"Why can't you fuck me like that?"_

_"What I wouldn't give to sit on his cock - "_

_"I love to see Teulen dirtied like this - "_

"You'll get your chance, all of you," said the Overseer, slowing his thrusts in order to slam into her hard once, twice. "I'll make her all sloppy for you, ruin her before you get your chances."

"Ruin me too!" yelled some woman.

"I'll ruin you right now," a man loudly replied.

Thais twisted her gaze sufficiently to catch the speakers, a woman directly in front of her giving one of the men a skeptical look. 

"Yeah, right," said the woman.

A queer, brief silence fell. If she could have told the woman to run, Thais would have. It was of course too late. The crowd was ripe for violence, having been egged on by witnessing the third rape of the day. Wide eyed, the woman glanced from side to side, realizing far too late that she was surrounded by men.

"No, not me, her!" she cried, batting away the hands pulling at her clothing. 

"That's it, men of Digidikk," shouted the Overseer joyfully. "Take that woman, make her remember whose pleasure comes first among the Emeeri!"

Thais watched the woman disappear beneath the horde of men and silently wished her luck. 

"You love watching rape, don't you?" The Overseer said, leaning on Thais's back, hips still pumping away. "That's what made me want you, the way you've seen every single rape Coldwater down."

It was a challenge too much. Thais shook her head, heedless of the splinter digging into her throat. "That's not true!"

Heat enveloped her back as the Overseer laid his torso atop her own, hips still. "No? Your juices are slicking my cock, your pussy's winking at me every time I pull out...or didn't you even notice?"

Shame flooded Thais as she came back into her body. He was right. She had never ever been so wet, so aroused. Her nipples were tight and her pulse pounded in her ears. The Overseer let go of her hip to put the tips of his fingers where she wanted them most and she gasped. He rubbed and she moaned, startling herself with how loud and how deep even through the agony in her shoulder.

"Beg me. Beg me to come, I know you want to."

Thais shook her head. No, no she would not even though her legs were shaking. 

The Overseer circled her pearl faster, and that, combined with his steady strokes, had her panting. "Can you hear her? I bet you wish you could see her, cunt gaping and dripping with spunk."

Despite her horror, Thais could indeed imagine what was happening on the other side of the fence. She was so wrong, so awful, she deserved to die for being turned on by his words! She was a terrible person, she wouldn't want this for any woman, not even her worst enemy!

 _And yet_.

Only a little bit ago she was happy, yes, _happy_ , to see Tinali get her comeuppance. But that was different, right? She knew Tinali, she knew how much she herself lacked by comparison, it was only natural she should hate Tinali! Some random woman she had never seen before, to take pleasure in that, however...

"Beg me," whispered the Overseer, slapping her ass hard.

Thais jerked in surprise and said, "I want to come! Please, I want to come, please!"

Immediately the Overseer leant upright and doubled his thrusts, jackrabbiting into her. Thais felt her mouth go slack, arching her back for more of his now elusive fingers. "Master, I want to come, I'm begging you, let me come!"

His touch instantly returned. His hand, the misery of her shoulder, the weeks of tension and exhaustion, all combined in a single breath that burst out of her in a wail that surely must have turned heads if she hadn't closed her eyes in her release. 

She wasn't the only one. The Overseer slammed in to her, grunting with effort, groaning through his orgasm.

Thais leaned against the stock as much as she could, utterly spent. On some level she was aware of the Overseer pulling out, of words he spoke, yet she had no idea of anything more.

Her lips were dry and cracked, bloody where she had bitten them. What she wanted more than anything, more even than freedom, was water. Anything to slake her parched throat, to ease her hot skin. 

Water, cool fresh water. From the shores of the Glimmer Lake, the streams of the Moss Garden, the fronds of the Cloud Forest. Ice, clear as glass, from the Shard.

Water...

~*~

When Thais finally came to herself, she was seated on a low cushion in a plain room half filled with tables and chairs. The space in front of her had been cleared, and two men in skintight white uniforms stood before her. They wore thick black belts bandalero style, upon which hung glass bowls a little larger than their heads.

Starmen.

The Overseer was on her left, lounging on a red velvet couch, smoking a cigarello in a bone holder, while others of his ilk sat here and there. As for herself, she was almost naked save for thin silver chains running from a collar around her neck, chains that also attached to another thin chain around her waist, and a skimpy undergarment tied with white ribbons at each hip. The tips of her breasts peaked out between the chains. Her head felt light - her hair had been shorn close to her scalp. 

"Don't tell them anything important," commanded the Overseer, prodding her bad shoulder with his boot. "Find out what they want."

Thais clasped her hands in her lap, wishing she could put on proper clothes first before she wished he was dead. "I am Thais, of the Teulen. Who are you? What are your names? What do you want?"

The Overseer prodded her once more. "Again."

Embarrassed by her state of undress, Thais repeated herself. She would find a way to kill him, that much she knew. Kill him, for making her do terrible things, for having terrible things done to her. Days had passed from being taken from the pen and she was still sore. She didn't remember much beyond the magnificent orgasm she had had, and how desperate she was to have another one. A glimpse of ecstasy and the hell she had to walk through to get it again and again and again. The Overseer like to take her in public whether she was ready or not, because the appalling truth was that if she wasn't read she soon would be. Not only that, if he said so she was free to be used by anyone, man or woman, who asked. 

There were times she could not walk, afterward.

One of the two men stepped forward and spoke. " _V'z Uneevzna bs gur fuvc Thaibe. Guvf vf Wvfhat-_ "

The thing happened in her head, the funny buzz that made her vision go blurry and her brain all funny.

" _\- bs fuvc Thaibe. Jr pbzr_ in peace to trade." 

Thais dutifully repeated what was said, aware of the two men staring at her openly. She darted glances at them, for they looked so different. Both were tall, but different skin colors. The speaker had brown skin and darker hair, tightly coiled, while the other had black hair and golden skin. 

"You think they understand us?" asked the black haired man.

"Yeah, getting there," replied the other. He nodded at Thais. "Pretty sure she's one of those instant translators we've been hearing about."

"Tell them we've got what they want. Gold, fish, slaves," muttered the Overseer through his teeth.

She did, and their response was to bring black boxes from their belt and set them on the nearest table. Holding up the palms of their hands at the Overseer, the men both touched the boxes. 

Twin beams of multicolored light sprang from the boxes and fanned out to join one another. Were the men sorcerors? 

Thais was not the only one who jumped in surprise when an older woman appeared in the rectangle of light. She matched what the men wore, a white uniform, though her collar had tiny rainbow stars on it. Her black and silver hair was tightly pulled back into a bun and her skin was pale. What was more, the woman looked at all of them as if she could actually see them, right then and there. Her gaze landed on Thais and her expression tightened.

"Is this her?" asked the woman, her voice booming around the room.

The black haired man winced and the woman's voice quieted to normal levels.

"Harriman, is this her?"

"Yes, sir, we believe so," answered the dark skinned man. "How do you want us to handle it?"

The woman's upper lip twitched. "Do what you have to."

"Sir."

Thais shrank down on her seat. She was used to the Overseer now, she didn't want to move on. Returning to the mountains was impossible now that she was so soiled.

"What did they say?" asked the Overseer, sitting forward with his elbows on his thighs. "Eh? What did they say?"

"They're going to kill you all," Thais hissed back. "You're all going to die!"

The Overseer chuckled and shook his head. "You're an awful little bitch, aren't you? A viper in the Teulen nest and they never even knew it." His grey eyes grew cold. "Spread your legs and tell them they can have you right here and now. Tell them they can fuck you til you bleed, and when it's too much I'll knock your teeth out and they can rape your mouth until you gag on their cocks. And when they're done with you I'll tie you to the post in the square and you can be screwed to death."

Nostrils flaring, Thais swung back to the Starmen. "Kill them. Kill them all."

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so this went places I wasn't expecting...
> 
> I don't think I've ever written something where I've realized halfway through that I don't like the main character. She's a complicated woman, our Thais. Tbh, I'm still not sure what to think about her. 
> 
> In any case, I hope this is enjoyable, lucymonster!


End file.
